Now @ MPL...

Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing offer simplicity with their big search boxes, but what if your searches don't give you many or any helpful results? You can do a more advanced search, which Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines offer, although you often have to look closely to figure out how to do one.

Another option is to learn some shortcuts to make your searches more focused. Here are some examples:

• Site Searches
You can type in the words you want to search then add site: and search a specific Website. For example, the search technology site:nytimes.com will give you results for the word technology on The New York Times Website. You can do the same sort of search if you only want results from a certain domain. For example, the search exercise site:.gov will give you results for the word exercise on Websites that end in .gov.

• Built-in Features
Many search engines allow you to type in a math problem (9568+4568) and the first result is your answer. They also do conversions (2 cups in ounces), time (time Hong Kong), definitions (define audacious) and offer other helpful features.

For a more complete list of shortcuts, check out this great cheat sheet from people who don't work for Google, but maintain Google Guide, a Website dedicated to making searching easier (thank you, Nancy Blachman!).

Odds are that you know at least one person that has diabetes. Maybe your family history includes it which puts you at a greater risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Make your health a priority this month by learning more about the risk factors for diabetes and learning what you can do to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. Check out the American Diabetes Association's web page for tips on lifestyle choices to help you live well with diabetes or completely avoid it. Look at the library's many cookbooks for diabetics. There are many resources for people living with diabetes at the library so make sure to check them out today.

Tuesday November 2nd is election day. Make sure your vote counts by checking which is your polling place and making sure that you are registered. Residents of Milwaukee can enter their address into the Election Commission's site to determine which is their polling place. The Election Commission also lists who your representatives are for selected national, state, and local positions. Another place to find information on who your state representatives are based on your residence is on the Wisconsin State Legislature's site. To view a sample ballot for the upcoming election and verify whether or not you are already registered, search the State of Wisconsin's Voter Public Access site.

photo by April Sikorski

If you're over the age of 18 and enjoy reading comic books and graphic novels from publishers like Vertigo and Fantagraphics, come to a meeting of Not Just for Kids Anymore, The Washington Park Comic Book & Graphic Novel Book Club. Books that will be read in this group are the equivalent of "Rated R" movies and are not appropriate for children. Intended for mature readers (18+). This month's selection is a Superman potpourri. This includes Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? The Deluxe Edition by Alan Moore, and All-Star Superman Vols. 1 & 2 by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely.

Library: Washington Park
Date: 12/14/10
Start Time: 6:45 PM
End Time: 7:45 PM

Join MPL on Saturday, November 6th from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. in Central Library's Centennial Hall for our latest poetry program, Poems that Turn with the Seasons.

From haiku to ode, great poetry has always connected us with earth's cycles. This program will help you rediscover how poetry attunes us to the motions of our moving and vulnerable planet. Poet Annie Finch shares some of her favorite seasonal poems, along with tips for using poetic rhythm to align yourself with the changing year.

Annie Finch is author of the poetry collections Among the Goddesses, Calendars, The Encyclopedia of Scotland, and Eve, reissued in Carnegie Mellon's Classic Contemporaries Poetry Series. Her other works include libretti; music, theater, and art collaborations; translation; and several anthologies and books on poetry. Winner of a Black Earth fellowship and the Robert Fitzgerald Award, she is Director of the Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Southern Maine.

This is a Language of Conservation program. The Language of Conservation is an initiative of Poets House in partnership with the Milwaukee County Zoo and Milwaukee Public Library, made possible by a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

As the holiday season approaches are you looking for ways to help others? If so, the Be the Match Registry is always in need of people to add to their bone marrow registry.

Joining the registry could not be easier. Just confirm you meet basic registry guidelines, complete the online form and follow the instructions on the kit you receive in the mail. The kit includes cotton swabs and you collect your cheek cells on them.

Your information will go into the registry and if you're a genetic match to someone who needs bone marrow or cells you'll be contacted and asked to consider donating. There are a lot of myths about donating, so see the Be the Match Registry's Myths & Facts about Bone Marrow Donation and their Website as you consider adding yourself to the registry.

As daylight savings time draws to a close and days grow shorter and darker, wildlife preparing for the winter ahead are especially vulnerable to vehicular misadventure. So the Humane Society of the United States has designated November 1 - 7 as Give Wildlife a Brake! week to remind motorists to use extra caution at this time of year; this will benefit not only deer and other animals but children, bicyclists and slow-moving vehicles. And speaking of the return of standard time, remember to "fall back" and set your clocks one hour earlier before you go to bed on Saturday, November 6 to prepare for the 2:00 a.m. time change.

Boswell Book Company, located at 2559 N. Downer Ave., will host Library Night on Tuesday, November 16 at 7:00 p.m.!

Come in for holiday shopping (10% of all proceeds benefit the library) and stay for a talk with author Tom Franklin. His new book, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, will be available for purchase and signing. Milwaukee Public Library librarians will be on hand to help shoppers get library cards.

In the spirit of gift-giving, this event will also be the kickoff for the annual "Fill the Shelves" sale held in conjunction with Katie Gingrass Gallery (241 N. Broadway). A variety of books will be available for purchase which will go directly on library shelves for all to enjoy.

Would you like your child to have more assistance with their schoolwork? Milwaukee Public Library currently runs a program called Teacher in the Library. Certified teachers are available after school at selected libraries to help both children and their parents with academic support and encouragement. Children under eight years old must be accompanied by an adult. Check out the library's calendar of events to see when and where the Teacher in the Library program will be available for you!

On November 12, 1929, Grace Kelly, also known as Princess Grace of Monaco, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Before she became Her Serene Highness the Princess of Monaco, she was an Academy Award winning actress. She starred in the Alfred Hitchcock films Dial M for Murder and Rear Window. In celebration of her birthday, check out biographies about this facinating woman, or watch her interview with Merv Griffin. While her life was tragically cut short by an auto accident in 1982, her legend lives on in a variety of media.

On November 10, 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald, a giant transport ship, was caught in a raging storm while crossing Lake Superior. Late that afternoon, the ship's captain radioed that "Big Fitz" was taking on water and had top-side damage. The ship sank and all 29 crew members perished. Singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot commemorated the tragic event in his Number One hit "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," with its haunting opening lines:

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they called "Gitche Gumee."
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
when the skies of November turn gloomy.

If you'd like to hear the song again, you can check out Lightfoot's Complete Greatest Hits or Gord's Gold Volume II. The library has books and videos about the Edmund Fitzgerald as well as data on more than 10,000 vessels in the Great Lakes Marine Collection including ships that sailed in 1679 to some that are still on the lakes today.

The holiday season is here, which means it's time to find gifts for family and friends! Come to Central Library on Saturday, November 20th from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. to peruse MPL's used book sale. The sale will feature Holiday & Children's Books.

Remember that Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library members may enter the sale 30 minutes before the general public with current membership card!

Are you thinking about college, but feel intimidated by the admissions process? Then come to the College Application Fair at the Center Street Library on Saturday, November 20 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. COMPASS guide advisors will be available to explain the application and admissions process, as well as give individualized help to students with the application process. Computers will be set aside for students to complete applications. Advisors will be on hand to assist undecided students with choosing a college or university.

If you have any questions about this program, or for more information, call (414)28-3011.

Amaze your family and friends this week with your incredible knowledge of all things Thanksgiving with these holiday facts from the History Channel!

• Benjamin Franklin thought that the turkey (rather than the bald eagle) should be the national symbol of the U.S.
• It wasn't until 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November, even though people in the U.S. had been celebrating the holiday for more than two centuries.
• The National Turkey Federation estimated that 46 million turkeys were eaten at Thanksgiving in 2007.
• Minnesota is the top turkey-producing state in America, but Wisconsin takes the prize for the most cranberry production!
• Originally known as Macy's Christmas Parade--to signify the launch of the Christmas shopping season--the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in New York City in 1924.
• The first time the Detroit Lions played football on Thanksgiving Day was in 1934, when they hosted the Chicago Bears at the University of Detroit stadium. They have played on Thanksgiving almost every year since!

Join MPL's Poet Laureate Brenda Cardenas for an afternoon discussion of poetry and poets on Saturday, Dec. 11 at 2:00 p.m. in the Krug Rare Books Room of Central Library.

The program will feature a panel discussion with Frank Lima (New York poet & master chef), Nina Corwin (poet & psychotherapist), William Fuller (poet & trust officer), Sue Blaustein (poet & food safety inspector & union officer), and moderator Karl Gartung (poet & truck driver & Woodland Pattern co-founder).

These poets will discuss the relationship between a poet's day job and his/her poetry, writing career, and writing process. How might these elements affect one another? How might these poets' work lives enrich their poetry or detract from their inspiration?

This event is linked to a poetry reading by Frank Lima at Woodland Pattern Book Center, 720 E. Locust St., on Dec. 10 at 7:00 p.m.